(J  s 

E.  S.  I-l'BRARY.  COF.  2.  ,  E.A  ^ 

CONNECTICUT 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION. 

NEW  HAVEN.    CONN. 


BTJLLETIlSr     124r,     JXJlSrE,     18©7. 


THE   COST   OF   PLANT   FOOD   IN   CONNECTICUT, 
SPRING  MONTHS  OF  1897. 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Notice  as  to  Bulletins  and  Reports, 2 

The  Station  and  the  Fertilizer  Control, 3 

The  Commercial  Cost  of  Plant  Food  in  Fertilizers, 3 

Nitrogen, 5 

Nitrate  of  Soda,  . .-  5 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia, 5 

Cottonseed  Meal, 5 

Tankage  Cottonseed  Meal, —  6 

Castor  Pomace, 6 

Availability  of  Fertilizer-Nitrogen 6 

Cost  of  Crop-Nitrogen, "7 

Phosphoric  Acid, —  8 

Dissolved  Bone  Black, -. 8 

Dissolved  Rock  Phosphate, 8 

Potash, ---  8 

Muriate  of  Potash, 8 

High  Grade  Sulphate  of  Potash, 9 

Double  Sulphate  of  Potash  and  Magnesia, 9 

Kainit, - 9 

Tabular  Summary, ---  9 

Fish,  Bone,  Tankage, 10 


Notice  as  to  Bulletins. 

The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Con- 
necticut who  apply  for  them. 

Applications  should  be  renewed  annually  before  January  1st. 

The  matter  of  all  the  Bulletins  of  this  Station,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
new  or  of  permanent  value,  will  be  made  part  of  the  Anntial 
Report  of  the  Station  StaflF. 

All  Bulletins  earlier  than  No.  71  and  Nos.  83,  93,  101,  102  and 
118  are  exhausted  and  cannot  be  supplied. 


Notice  as  to  Supply  of  Station  Reports. 

The  Station  has  no  supply  of  its  Annual  Reports  for  the  years 
1877,  1878,  1879,  1880,  1881,  1882,  1883,  1887  and  1891. 

By  a  recent  legislative  enactment,  the  Annual  Report  of  this 
Station,  printed  at  State  expense,  is  henceforth  limited  to  an 
edition  of  7,000  copies. 

After  exchanging  with  other  Experiment  Stations  and  Agricul- 
tural Journals,  the  Reports  remaining  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Station  will  be  sent  to  citizens  of  Connecticut  who  shall  seasona- 
bly apply  for  them,  and  to  others  as  long  as  the  supply  lasts. 


THE    STATION   AND   THE    FERTILIZEE   CONTROL.  8 

THE  STATION  AND  THE   FERTILIZER   CONTROL. 

Commercial  Fertilizers  are  bought  in  this  State  chiefly  during 
the  months  of  February  to  June. 

Samples  for  analysis  are  sent  by  purchasers  or  collected  by 
agents  of  this  Station,  for  the  most  part,  during  the  same  months. 

The  work  of  analysis  occupies  the  Station  chemists  from  March 
until  September. 

During  this  time  are  made  analyses  of  about  500  Commercial 
Fertilizers,  or  fertilizer-materials,  including  every  branded  fertilizer 
legally  sold  within  the  State, 

The  results  of  the  season's  work — which  are  reported  at  once 
to  those  who  have  sent  samples  or  letters  of  inquiry  to  the  Sta- 
tion— may  serve  as  a  valuable  guide  to  purchasers. 

Chief  among  the  fertilizer  questions  with  which  the  Station 
undertakes  to  deal,  are : — 

1.  What  materials  fit  for  fertilizers  are  in  our  Connecticut 
market,  what  is  their  composition  and  what  the  retail  cash  cost 
of  the  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  or  potash  contained  in  them  ? 

2.  What  mixed  fertilizers  are  sold  in  the  State,  how  far  do  the 
guaranteed  and  the  actual  composition  of  these  goods  agree,  and 
are  the  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash  in  these  mixtures 
readily  available  to  crops  ? 

3.  How  do  the  various  nitrogenous  fertilizers,  blood,  bone,  fish, 
tankage,  horn  and  hoof,  etc.,  compare  as  regai'ds  the  availability  of 
their  nitrogen  ? 

These  are  questions  which  the  farmer  cannot  answer  for  himself 
and  are  the  most  important  points  about  which  he  needs  informa- 
tion. If  he  has  seasonable  knowledge  of  them,  he  can  himself 
make  and  apply  to  mixed  fertilizers  a  schedule  of  valuations, 
which,  for  his  special  circumstances,  will  be  more  accurate 
than  any  which  the  Station  may  propose. 

THE  COMMERCIAL  COST  OF  PLANT  FOOD  IN 
FERTILIZERS. 

High  priced  Commercial  Fertilizers  in  general  should  be  used 
solely  to  supply  plant  food. 

They  are  not  universal  remedies  for  all  deficiencies  of  the  soil 
or  season  and  their  use  is  only  wise  on  land  which  is,  in  all  other 
respects  than  supply  of  plant  food,  in  good  condition  to  bear  pay- 
ing crops. 


4r  CONNECTICUT   EXPERIMENT   STATION   BULL.    124. 

For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  matter  the  reader  is  referred  to  a 
paper,  by  the  Director,  "On  the  Best  Economy  of  Concentrated 
Fertilizers,"  in  the  Nineteenth  Report  of  this  Station,  1895, 
page  162, 

The  valuable  ingredients  of  Commercial  Fertilizers,  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash,  cannot  be  bought  in  pure  condition 
but  exist  only  in  combinations,  which  never  contain  more  than 
about  half  their  weight  of  the  ingredients  named  and  often  a  much 
less  proportion. 

Chemical  analysis  alone  can  determine  how  much  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid  or  potash  any  given  material  contains. 

Every  citizen  of  Connecticut  can  have  fertilizers  analyzed 
gratuitously,  at  this  Station,  under  certain  conditions  which  the 
experience  of  twenty  years  has  shown  to  be  necessary. 

In  case  of  chemicals  or  raw  materials  whose  value  lies  in  a 
single  ingredient,  having  learned  what  and  how  much  plant  food 
the  material  contains  and  the  cost  per  ton  or  pound,  it  can  then 
be  calculated  what  the  actual  plant  food  co%i%  per  pound. 

For  example,  when  nitrate  of  soda  costs  $45.00  per  ton  and 
contains  16  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  its  nitrogen  costs  fourteen  cents 
per  pound,  for  since  the  nitrate  contains  16  per  cent,  (or  pounds 
in  100)  of  nitrogen,  a  ton  contains  320  pounds  and  costs  $45.00. 
One  pound  of  nitrate-nitrogen  therefore  costs  -^Z/-  =  14  cents. 

This  same  form  of  calculation  is  necessary  in  order  to  compare 
the  cost  of  plant  food  in  materials  which  are  different  in  kind. 

For  example,  which  is  the  cheaper  foi'm  of  available  phosphoric 
acid,  dissolved  South  Carolina  rock  at  $13.00  per  ton,  or  dis- 
solved bone-black  at  $23  ?  A  sample  of  the  former  is  found  to 
contain  14.22  per  cent,  of  "available"  (soluble  and  reverted) 
phosphoric  acid,  or  284.4  pounds  in  the  ton,  and  the  latter  16.89 
per  cent,  or  387.8  pounds  in  the  ton. 

Dividing  the  cost  in  each  case  by  the  number  of  pounds  of 
available  phosphoric  acid,  gives  the  cost  per  pound  in  each,  viz : 
4.6  cents  for  available  phosphoric  acid  in  dissolved  S.  C.  rock  phos- 
phate and  6.8  cents  for  the  same  thing  in  dissolved  bone  black. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  one  form  is  as  available  to 
plants  as  the  other.  The  available  phosphoric  acid  of  dissolved 
bone  black  is  therefore  very  considerably  more  expensive  than 
that  of  dissolved  S.  C.  rock  as  regai'ds  first  cost. 

Many  farmers  in  the  State  have  during  the  last  three  months 
sent  to  the  Station,  for  analysis,  the  materials  which  they  bought 


COMMERCIAL  COST    OF  PLANT  FOOD    IN  FERTILIZERS,  5 

or  intended  to  buy,  either  to  put  on  the  land  directly  or  to  use  in 
making  mixed  fertilizers. 

On  the  following  pages  the  results  of  these  analyses  are  sum- 
marized so  as  to  show  what  is  now  the  commercial  cost  of  plant 
food,  as  found  in  raw  materials  and  fertilizer  chemicals. 

The  analyses  will  be  given  in  detail  in  the  Report  for  1897. 

NITROGEN. 

Nitrate  of  Soda, 

The  average  percentage  of  nitrogen,  in  the  thirteen  samples 
examined,  is  15.89,  the  range  from  15.02  to  16,27, 

The  average  retail  cost  has  been  $46.50  per  ton,  the  range  from 
$44  to  $48. 

The  average  retail  cost  per  pound  of  nitrate-nitrogen  has  been 
14.7  cents,  the  range  from  13,7  to  15.6, 

To  illustrate  what  may  be  done  by  granges  or  farmers'  clubs 
which  join  in  purchasing  "  mixed  car  lots,"  may  be  instanced  a 
single  lot,  which,  bought  in  this  way,  cost  the  purchasers  $39.70 
per  ton  delivered,  or  12.4  cents  per  pound  for  nitrogen, —  2  cents 
less  per  pound  of  nitrogen  than  the  average  retail  price. 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia, 

This  material  has  for  some  years  been  too  expensive  to  use  as 
a  fertilizer,  but  at  present  rates  its  nitrogen  costs  no  more  than 
that  of  nitrate  of  soda. 

Two  samples,  sold  for  $60.00  per  ton,  contained  20.84  and  20.88 
per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  making  its  cost  per  pound  14.4  cents. 

Cottonseed  Meal. 

This  continues  to  be  one  of  the  most  popular  as  well  as  the 
commercially  cheapest  form  of  quickly  available  nitrogen. 

Sixty-one  samples  have  been  tested,  which  contained  from 
6.92  to  8.02  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  the  average  being  7.41  percent. 

This  is  a  higher  average  than*  that  of  any  previous  year.  The 
meal  also  contains  3.15  percent,  of  phosphoric  acid  and  1.90  per 
cent,  of  potash. 

The  average  cost  has  been  $22.00  per  ton,  the  range  from  $21,50 
to  $23.50, 


6  CONNECTICUT   EXPERIMENT  STATION   BULL.    124. 

If  the  relatively  small  quantities  of  j^liosphoric  acid  and  potash 
in  the  meal  are  valued  at  ii-  and  5  cents  per  pound  respectively, 
the  average  retail  cost  of  nitrogen  per  pound  in  56  samples  has 
been  11.6  cents,  a  cent  less  than  in  1896. 

The  cost  of  nitrogen  in  the  samples  ranged  from  10.4  to  12.7 
cents. 

Vegetation  experiments  indicate  that  the  nitrogen  of  cotton 
seed  meal  is  somewhat  more  available  than  that  of  blood,  fish, 
bone  or  tankage,  but  considerably  less  available  than  that  of 
nitrate  of  soda. 

"  Tankage   Cottonseed   Meal." 

This  inferior  article,  apparently  unhulled  cottonseed  meal,  is 
offered  every  year  as  a  fertilizer,  but  is  a  very  expensive  source 
of  nitrogen. 

A  single  sample,  sold  for  $18.00  per  ton,  contained 

Nitrogen 4.48  per  cent. 

Phosphoric  acid 1.88         " 

Potash 1.58         " 

Nitrogen  therefore  costs  16.4  cents  per  pound,  nearly  five  cents 
more  than  in  prime  yellow  or  hulled  meal. 


Castor  Pomace. 

Two  samples  of  pomace  contained  4.02  and  4.51  j9er  cent,  of 
nitrogen  respectively  and  cost  $19.00  per  ton. 

Nitrogen  in  these  samples  costs  18.5  and  21.1  cents  per  pound 
respectively. 

There  is  no  good  reason  for  using  castor  pomace  as  a  fertilizer, 
on  any  crop,  at  this  price. 


CoMPAEATivE  Availability  of  Various  Forms  op  Fertilizer- 
Nitrogen. 

The  comparative  availability  to  the  oat  and  maize  crops  of 
various  forms  of  nitrogen,  has  been  a  subject  of  experimental 
study  at  this  Station  during  the  last  three  years. 

The  f  ollow^ing  table  gives  some  of  the  results. 


NITEOGEiSr. 


Pounds. 
619  nitrate  of  soda 


Nitrogen  Availability. 

Pounds.  Pounds, 

containing  100  nitrogen,  yielded  63.8  of  nitrogen  to  the  crops. 


52.9 

46.8 

46.3 

44.6                ' 

44.1                ' 

42.9               ' 

41.8                ' 

38.2 

1.2                ' 

480  sulphate  of  ammonia*  "  100  "             ' 

2064  castor  pomace  "  100  '• 

1 205  cottonseed  meal,  "  100  " 

1560  linseed  meal  "  100  "             • 

1037  dry  fish  "  100 

739  dried  blood  "  100  "            ' 

652  horn  and  hoof  "  100  " 

1960  bone  tankage  "  100  " 

1480  pulverized  leather  '•  100  "             • 

*  Calculated  from  results  of  experiments  by  Wagner. 

The  table  shows,  first,  how  many  pounds  of  each  of  the  fertili- 
zers named  are  required  to  furnish  TOO  lbs.  of  nitrogen  and, 
second,  how  many  pounds  of  crop-nitrogen  are  obtainable  from 
ipo  lbs.  of  the  several  kinds  of  fertilizer-nitrogen. 

In  all  cases  the  conversion  of  fertilizer-nitrogen  into  crop-nitro- 
gen is  accompanied  by  a  more  or  less  considerable  waste  or  loss. 
We  see  that  scarcely  two-thirds  of  the  nitrate-nitrogen  entered 
the  crop,  while  of  most  of  the  other  fertilizers  rather  less  than 
one-half,  and  of  pulverized  leather  little  more  than  one-hundredth 
of  their  nitrogen  was  available. 

These  results  agree  substantially  with  those  obtained  in  Ger- 
many by  Wagner,  in  cultures  of  rye,  wheat  and  carrots  on 
plots  of  loamy  soil. 


Cost  of  Crop-Nitkogen. 

When  we  reckon  the  cost  of  crop-nitrogen  we  find  that  in  these 
tests  a  pound  derived  from  nitrate  cost  22  cents,  a  pound  from 
cottonseed  meal,  28,  one' from  castor  pomace,  38,  and  one  from 
dried  blood,  34  cents. 

These  figures  express  the  relative  agricultural  values  for  crop- 
production  of  the  several  forms  of  nitrogen,  as  found  by  practi- 
cal use  in  cultures  of  oats  and  indian  corn  during  three  succes- 
sive years.  The  experiments  were  made  necessarily  on  a  small 
scale,  but  doubtless  more  accurately  than  is  commonly  practicable 
in  field  trials.  The  results  do  not  necessarily  apply  to  all  other 
crops,  but  show  conclusively  that  different  forms  of  nitrogen 
have  very  diflerent  fertilizing  and  economic  values. 


8  CONNECTICUT   EXPERIMENT   STATION   BULL,    124. 

PHOSPHORIC    ACID. 
Dissolved  Bone  Black. 

The  average  cost  of  the  five  samples  tested  is  $23.00  per  ton. 
They  contain  17.4  percent,  of  "available"  phosphoric  acid,  whose 
cost  per  pound  is  6.6  cents. 

Dissolved  Rock  Phosphate, 

The  average  cost  of  dissolved  rock  phosphate  is  $15.50,  and  it 
contains  14.15  per  cent,  of  available  phosphoric  acid,  making  the 
average  cost  per  pound  of  the  latter,  4.8  cents. 

Dissolved  rock  phosphate  bought  in  "  mixed  car  lots  "  by  asso- 
ciations of  farmers  has  cost  from  $10.00  to  $11.00  delivered,  and 
the  available  phosphoric  acid  has  cost  from  3.5  cents  to  4.8  cents 
per  pound. 

POTASH. 

Muriate  of  Potash. 

In  large  transactions  muriate  of  potash  is  sold  on  a  guaranteed 
percentage  of  mui'iate,  usually  80  per  cent.,  equivalent  to  50.5 
per  cent,  of  potash. 

The  price  is  fixed  at  so  much  for  "  80  per  cent,  muriate,"  and  if 
the  invoice  contains  over  80  per  cent,  the  purchaser  pays  for  the 
excess  at  the  same  rate,  while  if  it  contains  less,  a  deduction  is 
made. 

The  per  cent,  of  potash  is  fixed  by  analysis  of  samples  drawn 
in  Germany  when  shipment  is  made,  and  these  analyses  only  are 
used  in  selling  the  goods.  It  often  happens,  however,  that  the 
23otash  salts,  after  transportation  to  this  country,  do  not  have  the 
same  percentage  composition  as  before.  The  seller,  however, 
gives  only  the  German  analyses  as  a  statement  of  composition. 

Naturally  the  small  lots  sold  to  consumers  are  taken,  as  far  as 
may  be,  from  lots  which  run  near  80  per  cent,  muriate  because 
retail  sales  have  to  be  made  "flat,"  i.  e.  the  seller  gets  nothing 
more  for  higher  grade  muriate,  but  he  has  to  pay  more  for  it  in 
Germany  or  when  bought  wholesale  from  importers.  In  nine 
samples  of  muriate  the  average  percentage  of  potash  was  50.96, 
the  range  from  48.89  to  52.73. 

The  average  cost  was  $48.25,  and  the  cost  per  pound  of  potash 
ranged  from  3.9  to  4.5  cents,  the  average  being  4.2  cents. 


POTASH.  9 

Hic4H  Grade  Sulphate  of  Potash. 

As  found  in  our  retail  market,  this  contains  on  the  average  49.0 
per  cent,  of  actual  potash,  equivalent  to  90.6  per  cent,  of  chemi- 
cally pure  sulphate  of  potash. 

The  average  cost  is  about  850.20  per  ton  and  the  cost  of  potash 
per  pound  ranges  from  4.7  to  5.5  cents,  the  average  being  5.1 
cents. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  high  grade  sulphate  is 
not  absolutely  free  from  chlorides,  though  the  amount  present  is 
so  small  that  it  is  not  likely  to  produce  any  bad  effects  on  either 
the  potato  or  tobacco  crops.  The  percentages  of  chlorine  found 
in  five  samples  were  0.34,  1.40,  1.40,  1.92,  and  2.40. 

Double  Sulphate  of  Potash  and  Magnesia. 

The  percentage  of  potash  found  in  this  material  has  ranged 
this  season  from  23.25  to  29.68  per  cent.,  and  at  $29.25  per  ton 
for  the  double  sulphate,  the  average  cost  per  pound  of  potash  has 
been  5.7  cents,  the  range  being  from  4.7  to  6  cents. 

The  percentages  of  chlorine  in  four  samples  of  the  double  sul- 
phate were  2.24,  1.68,  1.66,  and  1.08. 

Kainit. 

Two  samples  of  kainit  containing  12.7  ^:>er  cent,  of  potash  cost 
$12  and  $14  per  ton  respectively,  and  the  potash  in  them  cost  4.8 
and  5.4  cents  j^er  pound  respectively. 

The  values  just  stated  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

COST    OF    P^ERTILIZER    PLANT-FOOD   IN  CONNECTI- 
CUT, SPRING  OF  1897. 

Cents  per  pound. 
Average.    Max.       Mia. 

Nitrogen  in  nitrates 14.7  15.6  13.7 

in  sulphate  of  ammonia 14.4  14.4  14.4 

organic,  in  cottonseed  meal   11. 6  12.7  10.4 

"                 "         '•         "     (unhuUecl) 16.4 

"            castor  pomace   19.8  21.1  18.5 

Phosphoric  acid,  soluble  and  reverted,  in  dissolved  bone 

black 6.6  6.7  6.3 

Phosphoric  acid,  soluble  and  reverted,  in  dissolved  rock 

phosphate 4.8  5.2  4.4 

Potash,  as  muriate 4.2  4.5  3.9 

as  high  grade  sulphate 5.1  5.5  4.7 

its  double  sulphate 5.7  6.0  4.7 

as  kainit 5.1  5.4  4.8 


10  CONNECTICUT   EXPERIMENT   STATION   BULL.    124. 

It  is  seen  that  nitrate-nitrogen  can  be  bouglit  for  14.7  cents 
per  pound,  quickly  available  organic  nitrogen  for  12  cents  or 
less  per  pound,  phosphoric  acid  in  soluble  form  for  5  cents  per 
pound  and  potash  for  4^  cents  per  pound. 

It  also  appears  that  there  is  a  mean  difference  of  about  V  per 
cent,  between  the  average  and  the  maximum  cost,  a  premium 
for  care  and  skill  in  making  purchase  of  fertilizers. 

It  is  also  shown  that  clubs,  by  making  purchases  of  nitrate  of 
soda  and  of  acid  phosphate  in  car  lots  or  mixed  car  lots,  have 
got  these  articles  for  from  15  to  27  per  cent,  below  the  average 
selling  price. 

Fish,  Bone,  Tankage. 

Each  of  the  materials  thus  far  noticed  contains  only  one  of  the 
three  fertilizer  ingredients  in  any  considerable  quantity. 

All  the  other  fertilizers  in  common  use  in  this  State  contain 
two  or  more  ingredients,  so  that  we  cannot  directly  calculate  the 
actual  cost  per  pound  of  the  plant  food  in  them. 

For  instance,  three  samples  of  dry  ground  fish  recently  analyzed 
have  the  following  average  composition  and  cost: 

Nitrogen  as  ammonia .61  pei-  cent. 

"        organic. _ 7.83        " 

Phosphoric  acid,  soluble .83        " 

"          reverted 5.69       " 

"          insoluble .94       " 

Costperton §30.00 

In  one  ton  there  are : 

12.2  pounds  of  ammonic  nitrogen, 
151.6       "        "    organic  nitrogen, 
130.4       "        "    available  phosphoric  acid, 

18.8       "       "    insoluble  phosiDhoric  acid, 

and  the  whole  costs  130.00. 

That  the  fertilizer  ingredients  cost  more  in  fish  than  in  sulphate 
of  ammonia,  cottonseed  meal  and  acid  phosphate  is  evident. 
The  same  quantities  of  ammonic  and  organic  nitrogen  and  availa- 
ble phosphoric  acid,  which  a  ton  of  dry  fish  contains,  could  be 
bought  in  the  forms  named,  for  about  127.20. 

The  nitx'ogen  of  cottonseed  meal  is  more  available  than  that  of 
fish,  and  it  is  also  likely  that  the  available  phosphoric  acid  of 
acid  phosphate  is  more  effectual  than  that  of  fish.     On  the  other 


POTASH.  11 

hand,  the  fish  contains  nitrogen  and  phosphates  intimately  mixed, 
which  in  some  cases  is  a  convenience. 

Bone  and  tankage  not  only  contain  two  elements  of  plant  food, 
nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid,  but  the  rapidity  with  which  plants 
can  take  them  up  depends  largely  on  their  mechanical  state, 
whether  fine  or  coarse,  hard  or  soft. 

It  is  therefore  quite  imjDOSsible  to  make  any  very  strict  compari- 
son of  the  commercial  cost  of  nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid  in 
bone  and  tankage  with  their  cost  in  fertilizer  chemicals  such  as 
have  been  previously  discussed,  and  the  comparative  agricultural 
value  of  bone  in  different  degree  of  fineness  is  not  at  present 
known. 

Large  quantities  of  bone,  tankage  and  fish  are  used  in  this  State. 
It  is  acknowledged  that  their  action  on  crops  is  not  as  quick  as 
that  of  the  more  soluble  fertilizers,  nitrate  of  soda,  sulphate  of 
ammonia,  cottonseed  meal  and  acid  phosphates.  Bone,  fish  and 
tankage  are  thought,  however,  to  have  a  more  "lasting"  effect, 
to  "  carry  the  crop  along  "  better  than  the  others. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  very  excel- 
lent results  have  been  secured  in  fertilizing  peach  orchards  and 
nurseries  with  nitrate  and  acid  phosphate,  together  with  potash 
salts,  where  a  slow,  "lasting"  action  would  seem  to  be  required, 
and  it  is  also  true  that  on  hoed  crops,  garden  truck,  etc.,  the 
quicker  the  action  of  the  fertilizer  the  sooner  will  it  make  returns 
for  the  investment. 

It  is  believed  by  many  good  farmers  that  in  most  cases  the 
substitution  of  these  soluble  chemicals  for  bone,  tankage  and  fish 
will  be  found  to  pay. 

Nitrate  of  Soda,  Sulphate  of  Ammonia  and  Potash  Salts  require 
niuch  care  in  their  a^Dplicatiou,  as,  unless  finely  pulverized  and 
uniformly  spread,  they  easily  injure  young  and  tender  vegetation. 


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